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Earth Science Conservation Review
| Prod's Pot - Cascades; Cascades Rising | Fermanagh |
| Site number: | 340 | File Number: | H13 |
| ESCC: | IC | ||
| Locality Type: | Cave | Status: | ASSI |
| Grid Reference: | H12283498 | ||
| Google maps: | 54.26327,-7.81276 | ||
| County: | Fermanagh | Council area: | Fermanagh & Omagh District Council |
| Period: | Quaternary, Carboniferous | ||
| Stages: | Asbian, Holocene, Visean | ||
| Lithostrat: | Glencar Limestone Formation, Knockmore Limestone Member | ||
| Site Description | |
|---|---|
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| Description: | |
The Prod's Pot-Cascades Rising Karst area lies between the Tullyhona and Marble Arch areas. The area contains one major cave system, the Prod's Pot-Cascades Rising Cave System and a large number of minor sites associated with this. The cave system is developed within limestones of the Knockmore Limestone Member, with the exception of the entrance series of Cascades Rising Cave which is developed in the Glencar Limestone Formation. The system can be accessed via two entrances; Prod's Pot gives access to the passages upstream of the Main Stream sumps and Cascades Rising Cave gives access to the passages between Main Stream Sump 6 and the resurgence. The entrance to Cascades Rising Cave is at the head of a small dry river bed approximately 30m above and just south of The Cascades in the Cladagh Glen. A steep tight descent gives access to the stream. The initial 150m of passage, termed the Entrance Series, is a complex maze of low wet passages formed in the Glencar Limestone Formation. At 150m from the entrance, a short section of larger passage is formed within well bedded carbonate mudbanks and thin (1mm) shales of the Knockmore Limestone. At the end of the Entrance Series the passage enlarges dramatically as massive mudbank limestones of the Knockmore Member are reached. This is followed by the Boulder Series, large (10m x 15m passages) characterised by massive boulder breakdown. The Boulder Series ends with a 5m climb down into the Main Stream Passage which can be followed for 700m upstream to Sump 8. The Main Stream Passage is a large (3m x 10m initially, then averaging 3m x 5m), well decorated passage with a large chamber containing extensive well bedded sediment banks including bedded sands and fine grey laminated clays. These sediment banks have been eroded at one side by the stream. After approximately 450m the Main Stream Passage leads to The Canals, 150m of low passages where the stream flows over active sand deposits in the stream bed. The passage again increases to its previous proportions, before a point is reached where the floor and roof dip sharply downwards and the passage sumps (Sump 8). Immediately before Sump 8 an inlet, the Witheywindle, enters from the east marking the start of the Sump Bypass Series. Some 200m of rift passage with sand floor can be followed to a small Sump from which the Witheywindle stream enters the passage. The passage continues to Creatures End, a large 50m+ high aven. The passage immediately preceding Creatures End contains many fine mud and calcite speleothems on the floor of the passage including two nests of cave pearls and mud "splattermites" and conulites. From Creatures End a low muddy bedding plane (Leprechaun Crawl) leads back to the main streamway. From this point the streamway can be followed east (to Sump 6) or west (to Sump 7). It is similar to the Main Stream Passage after the boulder series. | |
| Notes: | |
Cascades Rising is a feature of the Prod's Pot - Cascades Rising Cave System in the Marlbank-Cuilcagh Mountain Region. For general information on this system and the features associated with it, including this one, and a reference list, see site description 'Marlbank-Cuilcagh Mountain Region; Prod's Pot - Cascades Rising Area'. | |
| Keywords | |
|---|---|
| Rocks: | Limestone, Mudstone, Shale |
| Structures: | bedding |
| Geomorph: | cave, pothole |
| Record type: | ESCR report | ||
| Entered by: | Doughty, P.J. | ||
| Last updated: | 24 Dec 2003 | ||
| Enlander, I., Dempster, M. & Doughty, P., 2026. Prod's Pot - Cascades; Cascades Rising, County Fermanagh, site details. [In] Earth Science Conservation Review. https://www.habitas.org.uk/escr/site.php?item=340. Accessed on 2026-11-08. |
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